This invention relates to a folding chair that is convertible to a rocking chair and particularly a folding chair that has a set of rockers located thereunder for converting to a rocking chair.
In order to increase leisure functionality of a folding chair and to enable the chair equipping rocking function in addition to provide seating, there is a proposal of leisure chair disclosed for achieving this purpose as shown in FIG. 1. It generally has four fastening members fastened respectively to the front and rear support and two lateral supports of a leisure chair. Then a piece of canvas or cloth is disposed over the supports to form the seat pad and backrest to form a foldable and extensible leisure chair suitable for outdoor use. The fastening members may be mounted on a pair of curved slats and fastened thereon by bolts to convert the leisure chair become a rocking chair for adding comfort to people seating thereon. However such a design and construction still has drawbacks, notably:
1. Outdoor ground conditions are not always suitable for supporting rocking chair, such as a slope terrain, uneven graveled ground or road, or the like. It such an occasion, the curved slats have to be removed to convert the rocking chair back to the leisure chair to give user a steady and comfortable seating support. Users have to use tools to remove the bolts from the fastening members for disengaging the curved slats from supports of the chair. It is a tedious and time consuming chore. Even at the condition which the rocking chair may be used, the curved slats have relatively small contact area with the ground surface and result in not very stable support for people seating thereon. A slightly poor ground condition or lopsided seating of the user could topple the chair and hurts the user seating thereon, or damage the rocking chair. Therefore it needs people to take great care to safely seat thereon. The additional mental burden of seating and safety concern run counter to the leisure and relaxation purpose it is supposed to achieve.
2. The fastening members and curved slats are usually made by integral forming process. In order to reduce cost, most producers adapt an uniform specification. As a result, there are not many choices to attract consumers. To add more selections and appealing, many different molds have to be made and the cost will increase. How to make the rocking chair attractive and its production economically justified is a problem many furniture producers are facing now.
3. As the fastening members are fastened by bolts and done by user through tools, the curved slats are mostly made of hard wood. The wood is a more expensive material. The forming of the curved slat is a complicated process. Moreover, the wooden curved slat tends to wear off after using a period of time, and will result in unsightly appearance or uneven balance which may topple easily when seating people.
In view of aforesaid disadvantages, it is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved structure that has anchor seats fastened to the rockers for holding the pedestals at four corners such that the folding chair is convertible to a rocking chair without changing the design of the pedestal, and users may select either the folding chair or rocking chair to suit their desires depends on the physical environments.
Another object of this invention is to provide a retainer for preventing the pedestal from detaching from the anchor seat, and an elastic element housed in the anchor seat to facilitate assembly and disassembly.